Welsh Journals

THE WELSH OUTLOOK NOTES OF THE MONTH Imperial The recent Parliamentary debate on and Local local and imperial taxation raised Taxation many important issues which were discussed in a spirit worthy of the House of Commons at its best. It is significant that there was general agreement that the relative burdens of the ratepayer and the taxpayer must be speedily adjusted, and that the incidence of local burdens must be placed on a broader basis. Particular interest naturally centred round the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer who informed the House that the Government propose to deal with the problem during the present Session of Parliament. The details of the Government plan were not disclosed, but two definite pronouncements were made. Firstly That the State when it comes to increase its contribution to local taxation ought to rearrange the whole of the grants so that the more heavily burdened districts shall receive a greater share of the contribution." Secondly: ''That when grants are going to be made there must be greater guarantees taken for efficiency. t Unless there is a certain standard of efficiency obtained, not only for education and main roads, but for other local services the State shall have the power to withhold or abate the grant. That is the case in regard to the Police. There ought to be the same power vested in the State over all branches of local services." Special importance also attaches to the speech of the President of the Local Government Board who announced that the Government propose to review the whole system of the relations of imperial and local finance," but that in doing so they would have to take care that a sufficient share of the cost of local services fell on the bodies responsible for local MARCH, 1914. administration, so that the ratepayer should not be encouraged in extravagance at the cost of the tax- payer. Though the whole debate was most enlightening and augured well for the future treatment of the subject in a non-controversial spirit, it seems to us that one very important aspect of the problem was wholly neglected. The relation of the various public services to the taxpayer and the ratepayer cannot be satisfactorily dealt with without carefully over- hauling the whole machinery of local government. In our opinion, both the efficiency and the economical administration of local services require detailed reconsideration of the duties devolving upon the various local authorities. Thus, to take the instance of the local authorities responsible for house inspection and other primary sanitary needs, we find that in Wales these duties are shared by four County Boroughs, twenty-nine Municipal Boroughs, eighty- one Urban Districts, and seventy-five Rural Districts. while thirteen County Councils have in some particulars either concurrent or supervisory powers. No less than seventy-four of these autho- rities have a population of less than 5,000, though it is difficult to organise local government for an area with a population much below 50,000 Now whatever virtue there may be in a multitude of counsellors, a multiplicity of councils in a small country like Wales means both inefficiency and overlapping unless the energies of those bodies are reserved for those functions which they can properly discharge. There is therefore danger under present circum- stances that extravagance may result from giving of grants in aid to many costly, though inefficient, local bodies, and we would strongly urge that the time has come when the whole problem of local government should be reviewed, and that before finally settling the basis for future taxation, Parliament should decide what services are best administered by small local