TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 10 March 1936, Page 6

TIMELY TOPICS

CpST OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. When the National Expenditure Commission reported in 1932 on the possibilities of effecting reductions in the cost of government, it devoted some attention to the local authorities. The commission admitted that it had been unable to investigate this branch of public expenditure in detail, but • it discovered enough to be impressed with the need for a thorough overhaul of the whole system of local government. This, it recommended, should be done without delay. When the system was inaugurated in 1876 there were 63 counties and 36 boroughs. Since then the number and variety of local authorities has increased steadily. By 1930 we had evolved no fewer than 17 different varieties of local body, totalling in the aggregate 650 —one to every 2300 inhabitants. Within the last 20 years, 88 local bodies were added to the list. It might be argued that this increase has been justified by the increase in* the popula-

tion. But between 1915 and 1930, a period of 15 years, the population increased by 29 per cent only, When the number of local authority employees increased by 76 per cent, their wages by 199 per cent, the gross debt by 191 per cent, the total expenditure by 224 per cent, and the rates, licenses and taxes by 181 per cent.

3> <S> LOST BOOKS

“The other day (says the “Edmonton Journal,” Canada) a man put an advertisement asking borrowers of his books please to return them. It | appears that he had loaned them to | friends, and they in turn had loaned them to their friends and so on. Now no one seemed to know who had the books Chain lending is not a new thing. But that does not make it any more palatable to the owner of the book. Men and women who really loye books are eager to lend them to friends. They want their friends to meet their books and enjoy them. But they want those books home again soon so they may turn to them when the mood seizes them. Booklovors everywhere will feel a surge of sympathy for the advertiser of his ‘ lost ’ books, for they know just how he feels. When one reads a book and wants it, tne thing to do is to go to a book store and buy a copy. Authors, publishers and booksellers exist for the purpose of filling just such wants.”

Words of Wisdom.

And so the Word had breath and wrought With human hands the creed o ] creeds In loveliness of perfect deeds More strong than all poetic thought. —Tennyson. <S> <£ <•» <S> Tale of the Day.

Prison Governor: “Have you any complaints to make?” Prisoner : “Yes; the prison walls are not built to scale.”