Welsh Journals

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I think, Mr. Uoyd George's value to the world has been precisely in this that he came from a people on whom the national stamp was very strong. An Englishman is less alive to national characteristics he is apt to think of men simply as men-more or less interchangeable units, so many travellers in a London bus. Mr. Lloyd George, because he was a Welshman, was bound to understand that Servians and Rumanians would have different charac- teristics and that arguments which might move an Englishman would leave a Frenchman cold. With the process of internationalisation, there comes a need to strengthen the quality of race, and to give it its full value in the world. You in Wales have the economic question in an acute form, and South Wales has contributed nothing but an element of unrest-which is only to be paralleled on the Clyde. I believe that if Wales had to face for LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS Member of the Executive Committee of the National Labour Party, and of the Local Government Advisory Committee of the Labour Research Department. LAST May I was asked to speak at a Conference convened by the Labour Research Department in London on the question of areas and methods of election of Councillors, and in preparing my address on that occa- sion I discovered that the problem was even more pressing than I had ever anticipated, and in considering the question from the standpoint of Wales and Monmouthshire, I realised that here was a problem that the Welsh Parliament, if established in the near future, would have to immediately deal with. Every social reformer recognises that it is not only necessary to have the legislature to pass Laws for the purpose of improving the conditions of the people of the country, but they recognise also that the administration of these laws is equally as important and that upon the Administrative Authority depends very largely the question as to whether or not the very best or the very worst results are to be obtained from such legislation. The first thing that impresses me in examining the problem of Urban Administrative Authorities, either under the Urban Councils Act or that of Municipal boroughs is the very large number of areas where the population is less than 10,000. There are in England and Wales some 80 County Boroughs, 247 Municipal Boroughs, 804 Urban Councils, and 61 Administrative Counties, and an analysis of the total of these 1,051 authorities shows that there are 395 under 5,000 population, 241 between 5,000 and 10,000 population, and there are 415 authorities that are over 10,000 population. Out of this number there are 63 Municipal boroughs with less than 5,000 population, 40 Municipal boroughs with between 5,000 and 10,000, and 144 Municipal boroughs with over 10,000 population, leaving 332 Urban District Councils with a population of itself the question of the Welsh coalfields it would be found more capable of solution, for it is probably in great part a problem of Welsh temperament and of Welsh history; one had only to look at a man like Mabon beside the English mining representatives to see that his point of view could never be wholly theirs. I believe also that the Welsh miners, and the Welsh captains of mining industry, might together in a Welsh parliament work out a system of mining legislation from which the world could learn. All this, however, is mere speculation. What I know is that you in Wales will find an irresistible political pressure forcing you to take up this question of self- government, just because you have carried and disposed of what was previously your limited national demand. And I welcome this fact as a reinforcement to the cause of Ireland. THE NEED OF REFORM By Mr. W. Harris, Pontllanfraith, under 5,000, 201 between 5,000 and 10,000, and 271 over 10,000 population, so that, it will be seen that practically three-fifths of the areas controlled by Urban District Councillors have a population of less than 10,000, whereas of the County Boroughs only three are under 50,000. On examining the position in Wales and Monmouth- shire I find that there are 40 Urban District Councils under 5,000 population, 20 with between 5,000 and 10,000 population, and 24 with over 10,000 population, and taking the Municipal boroughs I find that there are 12 in Wales and Monmouthshire with less than 5,000 population, 9 between 5,000 and 10,000 population, and 7 Municipal boroughs with over 10,000 population, and 4 out of the 7 Municipal Boroughs with over 10,000 population are in the industrial counties of Carmarthen and Glamorgan: I have not included in these figures the four County Boroughs of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and Merthyr. It will therefore be seen that of the Welsh Municipal boroughs three quarters of them are below 10,000 population, whilst nearly one-half are below 5,000 population. This problem of area is one of the problems that should be immediately dealt with under any scheme of reconstruc- tion. The smaller the area the more parochial are the views expressed with regard to administration, and except in very exceptional circumstances small areas are seriously handicapped for the lack of rateable value for rating and borough purposes in launching forth the necessary schemes for the improvement of the health of the community they govern. These small areas are often expensive in their establishment charges in proportion to their rateable value, and often the overlapping of boundaries retards the development of the public services necessary in the interest of the communities.