Social Trends on Rural Areas: Administrative Problems: (c) Transport and Public Services
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1938.tb02085.x |
| Date | 01 July 1938 |
| Published date | 01 July 1938 |
| Author | Edward John Stead |
Social
Trends
in
Rural
Areas
:
Administrative
Problems
(c)
Transport
and
Public
Services
By
EDWARD
JOHN
STEAD,
M.C.,
Assoc.
M.Inst.C.E.,
F.S.I.
Chartered Civil Engineer
and
Chartered Surveyor,
County Surveyor
of
Somerset,
Vice-president
01
the National Association
of
Local Government
Offcers
,[Paper
to
be discussed
at
the
Sunziner
Coizfeifeizce
of
the Institute
of
Public
Administration,
Rristol,
July,
19381
HE
particular matters discussed in this paper are
of
very great
T
importance in the lives of the people who either earn their living
by occupation in industry in a rural area
or
who
merely live there
as
a
convcnicnce to themselves, though the latter class are, in general,
in
a
better position
to
fend for themselves
in
providiiig the
services
desirable or essential to their daily lives.
The services
to
be discussed are
(I)
Transport,
(2)
Water Supply
and Sewerage,
(3)
Refuse Disposal,
(4)
Village Halls or
Social
Centres.
TransPo??
Everyone must be familiar with the fact that transport
in
one
form or another affects the well-being
of
every qingle person in the
Kingdom. Fifty or sixty years ago men were accustomed to walking
long distances to and from their daily work, daily activities were
confined
to
a
limited radius from
the
home
and
amusements
and
recreations were less in number and largely local in character.
Nowadays few people walk anywhere except purely as an exercise
or
recreation. The improvement
in
roads
2nd
rod
surfaces is
so
great that there
are
few bad roads anywhere in the country.
The
dustless roads make road travel very pleasurable and the smooth
even surfaces leave little room
for
cyclists’ complaints. Cyclists are
not registered, and there is therefore
no
accuraie census
of
their
iiuinbers;
it
is,
however, estimated that therc arc about
70
million
pedal cyclists in thc United Kingdom. It is
a
safe assumption
thdt
a
considerable proportion
of
the
total
are
rcsiclentc
of
rriral
area.;
261
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