The Adaptation of English Local Government to Colonial Territories
| Published date | 01 December 1949 |
| Author | A. H. Marshall |
| Date | 01 December 1949 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1949.tb02705.x |
The
Adaptation
of
English
Local
Government
to
Colonial
By A.
H.
We British have always claimed that
our system of local administration by
independent elected authorities was one
of
the best in the world. Our present
attempts
to
foster the development of
local government in the Empire,
naturally take the form of an attempt to
adapt the English system. In the task
of adaptation the colonial administrator
is doubly hampered. First because the
circumstances
of
one territory differ
so
much from those
of
others.
This
is
so
even among developed countries such as
those
of
Europe and is even more
so
when the comparison is between a
fully
developed western country and a rela-
tively primitive area in the process
of
feeling its way towards self government.
The tssk
is
difficult in the second place
because of the nature of the thing
to
be
transpianted-English
local
government.
The mere fact that it is a British political
instinition is of itself sufficient to suggest
that
it
may not be quite what it seems to
be. Moreover, in the days immediately
before the second world war, though the
fundamental soundness of our local
government was not in question, some
shortcomings were becoming noticeable,
and some
of
its best features were
becoming obscured by these defects-a
condition which of itself makes hazar-
dous the path of the student, especially
one who is attempting to gather the
salient features in
a
limited time. Worst
of
all,
however, for the enquirer, is the
state of
flux
of local government at the
present time. Since the war a dismem-
berment
of
our local government system
has begun-not because of a conscious
national policy towards local govern-
ment, but as an accident of other
national policies. There is now no
publicly declared national policy‘ to-
wards the future of local government
notwithstanding the fact that since
1945
it
has been materially altered, chiefly
by taking away from local authorities
important duties and very largely
estending the amount of central control.
Territories
MARSHALL
An administrator from outside attempt-
ing to understand the working
of
local
government in a short time is not there-
fore to be envied.
It
was for these reasons that the Sudan
Government decided, instead of giving
one of their
own
officials
a
short course
in local government, to find someone who
already had a first-hand knowledge
of
local government, give him an oppor-
tunity of studying the Sudanese problem
on the spot, and of exchanging ideas
with the local administrators, after
which he
was
to recommend a system
of
local government for the Sudan. The
following notes on some of the difficul-
ties and dangers
of
adapting
our
English
local government system are based upon
my experience in working out in
this
fashion a local government system for
the Sudan. They are in no sense a guide
to the introduction of local government
in undeveloped countries. They
do
not
even indicate the ground which such a
study would cover. Nor are they
a
complete account of the relevant features
of
English local government.
Those
aspects of English local government
which yield their secret at first glance
have been ignored, however important
they may be. For example, English local
authorities have complete and very
satisfactory codes for regulating their
internal procedure-conduct of elections,
conduct of meetings, letting of contracts,
and appointment of staff. The import
of these
rules
is clear
;
they are therefore
outside the scope of these notes. But
this does not mean they are not impor-
tant. On the contrary, one
of
the most
essential parts of the preliminary work
to
be done in instituting a new scheme
of government is education in its prac-
tical working. The Control Commission
in
Germany would have found the later
stages of their task ‘of encouraging the
Germans to adopt English methods
of
local government much lightened
if
they
had been able in the early stages to
provide
a
corps
of
field workers versed
To continue reading
Request your trial