More on Local Government
Essays on Local Government. Edited by Charles Wilson. (Basil Blackwell. 18s.)
INTRODUCTIONS to other parts of our political system are not too frequent, but about once a year someone offers to introduce us- to local government. There are few aspects of our government in which the public at large is less interested, yet which have bred such enthusiasm in a minority ; and presumably successive members of this minority continue to write introductions bedause previous efforts have so patently been unproductive. This, however, is not the annual introductory booklet. Ii consists of five essays prepared by research assistants of Nuffield College in connection with discussions arranged by the college, together with an introductory essay by the editor based partly upon his reflections on these discussions, and partly upon his reflections on local government as a university teacher and as a contributor to The Times.
This very sensible essay helps to explain the limitations of intro- duetory books. For, as Mr. Wilson says, what we really require to do is so to organise ;hat the citizen knows his society " not only with his theoretical reason but also with his practical reason, that is to say, is able not only to entertain an understanding of it, but is able' to act in it." The purpose of his essay is to show what local govern- ment has to do with this, and he gives an answer in terms of recent restatements of democratic doctrine. Essentially, democracy must insist on basing the State on the nature of the person. Hence arise three principles of government—general participation by citizens in decision-taking, the use of discussion and voting for this purpose, and political education by these means. These principles demand the association of citizens in the working of government 'at all levels, and here is the justification for local government, and for other forms of intermediate political organisation. But this involves a paradox ; democratic institutions must be intelligible, yet democracies must, of all societies, be the most complicated and subtle. And there is a special difficulty for local government today ; for intermediate govern- ment is apt to be particularly unintelligible, yet the need for intelli- gibility is now most urgent, because the State is removing more and more from individuals and " putting it into government." Thus in local-government reform we must beware lest an unduly adminis- trative approach leads to the neglect of natural community and corporate interest as the proper bases for areas of a local-government system that should be a system of local self-government.
The other essays are by three writers, Mr. V. D. Lipman, Miss Maura 'Schultz and Miss Elizabeth Howard. They cover area and boundary changes 1888-1939, administrative effects of the 1929 Local Government Act and later Acts, development of grants, control of local borrowing, and joint authorities • and there is one appendix summarising the 1940-1945 proposals for reform, and another com- paring the block grant formula of 1929 with the revised formula of 1937. Some of this, particularly in the earlier essays, is not very informative to those who have read _ for themselves the relevant Government publications, for instance, the reports and minutes of evidence of the Onslow Commission ; and some readers may be disappointed that the book was apparently ready before the passage
of the 1948 Local Government Act, and before there Was time to digest the latest proposals for boundary reform. But pre-1929 material is reliably and conveniently summarised, and there is infor- mation on the post-1929 period that is not in other books. Conse- quently, students and others who want to improve their knowledge of the historical background should be considerably helped. There are some minor blemishes : for instance, on page 27 it is implied that Edinburgh is or was a county borough ; and on page 68 " the burden of rates were considered " ; there is a lack of uniformity in footnotes and 2 on page 72 and footnote 1 on page 79—but these are trifling
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