WASTE IN LONDON

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 40, 17 February 1933, Page 3

WASTE IN LONDON

ARMY OF OFFICIALS

Government of the great centre of population, known as London presents a picture!: of municipal: multiplicity seldom seen anywhere. There are twenty-eight Mayors in London presiding over, the twenty-eight boroughs, all of which have their own councils. Appended to. these are the customary armies of administrators, inspectors, clerks, and caretakers, all on the pay rolls of the twenty-eight boroughs/ says the "San Francisco Chronicle." In addition to the lack of uniformity that such- administration . gives—illustrated by the fact that an electric radio or a light bulb that suits the volts and watts of one borough cannot be used in another, where the current is invariably different—the system builds up an enormous and sometimes duplicating public expenditure. An attack on the extravagance of borough government has just been delivered by Mr. H. G. Williams, M.P., who declares that the great wasto of public funds should be stopped. "Do you mean to say, "he declared, j "that the Wandswprth borough council, for instance, ■ with a staff of 3000 to 4000 employees, requires "seven councillors? The whole of the work could be done unaided by the Mayor with the.help, of .the officials. Most of the money spent on committees, minute "clerk 3, and printing minutes is an elaborate waste. - "You have in London twmity-eight borough councils, with between i6OO and 1700 members. Democracy is all light for representation, but you can't administer through a crowd. Although some councils have very wide areas, which must all bo represented, I think the councils themselves could be BnaUer." . :