A Mild Expostulation
| Published date | 01 June 1923 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1923.tb02537.x |
| Date | 01 June 1923 |
The
Jownal
of
Public
.
Administration
A
Mild
Expostulation
BY
THE
EDITOR
N
the January number of the
Edinburgh
Review
there is considerable
I
reference to central and local administration. Mr. Bernard Holland
gives
a
brief summary
of
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb’s new book on
English
Local
Government,
and proceeds from that summary to deal with
national and local expenditure. Basing his considerations largely upon
the administration of education he proceeds to contend that there is a
vast amount
of
overlapping, that the central authorities duplicate the
work of the local authorities, that there are
“
seas
of ink and leagues
of
paper and other equipment and expenses.” He argues that if it
“
were
not necessary to maintain
a
vast correspondence with Whitehall over the
most trifling matters
a
great part of the staff of local authorities might
be dispensed with,” and that
if
county and city councils
‘‘
could finally
settle countless small cost-involving matters, it would not be necessary
to pay officials in Whitehall to supervise them and other officials
in
Whitehall to supervise these officials.” He gives various instances to
prove his case, including quotations from Mr. Fisher. Then he gives
us
a rapid review of other departments, and he sees the same duality
beginning in respect
of
public health and the relief
of
the poor, the con-
struction of roads, and housing. He sums up that
a
clear demarcation
should be made between national and local administrative business,
and that
“
the former should be transacted by national and the latter,
subject to national legislation, by local authorities, and neither by both.”
To
achieve this he would arrange
for
a division of the sources of revenue,
including
a
division of the income tax, and then he would provide for
greater local centralization.
“
No
great sentiment is attached to rural
or urban districts, modem creations, and it would
be
easy to transform
their councils into county sub-committees.” Thus the proposal is
two-fold. It is decentralization from the capital downwards; it is
centralization upwards to the county. It is argued fairly and
frankly.
It
is
true that
in
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Webb’s book there are answers
to some of the arguments, especially the difficulties
of
autonomy in local
districts. But with this we have
no
concern. It is
a
matter for legisla-
tion. The
mild
expostulation comes
in
when the Editor of the
Editzburgh
Review
crosses the
t’s
and dots the
i’s
of
Mr.
Holland’s arguments.
It
seems that the malevolent influence
is
not only the legislative authority
which has
so
devised the administrative machine but
“
partly the efforts
of
the bureaucrats themselves, persistently manoeuvring to increase
their
own
functions.”
Here
is
the
process
:
“
For
each year there
are
Now this is quite legitimate
as
a
proposal.
136
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