Employment and Organization of Committees in Local Government Administration
| Date | 01 December 1924 |
| Author | G. Hammond Etherton |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1924.tb02194.x |
| Published date | 01 December 1924 |
Organization
in
Local
Administration
Employment and Organization
of
Committees
in
Local
Government Administration
0.
By
G.
HAMMOND
ETHERTON,
J.P.
Clerk
of
the Lancashirc
County
Council
HE
past few decades have witnessed
a
remarkable increase in the
T
functions and duties placed to the care of local government
authorities,
an
increase
growing
and constant, yet almost imperceptible,
except, perhaps, to those immediately called upon to administer those
functions and duties. Machinery which in the old times was sufficient
for its limited purpose has become obsolete, and new obligations on
local authorities demand new methods and new measures.
The
total population in
all
urban areas
in
England and Wales
(excluding London) rose from 16,663,386
in
1891 to 25,551,136 in 1921
;
in rural areas over the same period it declined from 8,107,021 to
7,850,857, the total population of England and Wales (excluding
London) being, in 1921, 33,401,993,
as
against, in 1891, 24,770,407;
moreover, there does not appear any ground for
assuming
that there
has yet been any permanent departure from the conditions which during
the past fifty years have resulted
in
a
natural increase of approximately
400,OOO
per mum for Great Britain.
The
gross
expenditure on public health services, by local authorities
in England and
Wales,
outside London, per head of the population,
was,
in
1919-20, 13s.
3d.,
whereas in
189596
it was
3s.
8d.
(tuber-
culosis, venereal, maternity, etc., services not being then provided)
;
and the
gross
expenditure by different classes of local authorities
(excluding London and poor law authorities), in the year 1919-20, on
principal services was
no
less than L153,751,899, excluding trading
services, and including the latter, ;6231,033,181.
The time, then, has come, indeed if
it
has not already passed, when
the problems of
local
government have attained such dimensions that
attention must be directed to the consideration of judicious arrange-
ment in the conduct of local government affairs as
will,
on
the one
hand, produce efficient and businesslike results and, on the other,
lighten the burden on public men.
A
council composed perhaps
of
50,
70,
or
150
members may direct
389
To continue reading
Request your trial