GOVERNING LONDON
A COLOSSAL TASK LITTLE KNOWN FACTS There is probably no more complex system of local government in the world than that which deals with the municipal affairs of London’s teeming millions. Nor is there any, it is safe to say, which works so smoothly and unobtrusively, writes L. -Hill, general secretary of the National Association of. Local Government Officers in the Daily Telegraph, London. The general principle upon which the civic administration of the metropolis is based is that for all services which can best bo administered for the whole of London there is a central authority, and that for those that can more appropriately be administered in local areas there are a number of autonomous local authorities. A Vast Budget The London County Council, the biggest of all the metropolitan authorities, has no counterpart in England, or indeed, anywhere else. It governs an area of about 117 square miles, with a population of 4,500,000 and a rateable value of nearly £600,000,000. Its budget amounts to £40,002,000 a year, involving iigures in excess of the budgets of many European States. Yet, such is the efficiency of the administration and the care exercised in expenditure that every penny of that gigantic budget is voted by the council. Since the council was first established—it came as a result of tho Local Government Act of 1888—its expenditure has increased over twentyfold, due mainly to tho vast addition to the duties it has been called upon to perform. Only about half of the council’s expenditure falls upon the rates.
The London County Council is one of the world’s greatest home providers. Some 60,000 houses and flats have been erected, and the actual population of tho council’s dwellings is about 2G0,000, or approximately the total population of Nottingham. For its various services the L.C.C. requires a staff of about 85,000, scattered over seventysix hospitals, fifteen menial hospitals, over 1400 schools, about fifty institutions, apart from its central and local offices.
Maze of Streets Within the council’s administrative area there are 2500 miles of streets, and 160 miles of tramways which carry every year over 700,000,000 passengers. In this same area are 400 miles of main and 2500 miles of local sewers. It is estimated that the discharge from these sewers would form a stream 20 feet wide, 5 feet deep, flowing at the rate of three miles an hour, day in and day out. There is, perhaps, no more important feature of the London County Council’s work than that •which concerns those varied measures of communal hygiene which make for a healthy environment. Such have been the achievements in this sphere of administration during recent years that London is now one of the healthiest capital cities in the world. The deathrate of children under one year is lower in London than in the country. The work of tho council’s health department begins before birth, with the provision of ante-natal care, and
continues throughout life. The institution services have been built up into tho most extensive municipal hospital organisation in the world. Altogether about 42,000 beds are under tho control of the Public Health Department, and the number of patients admitted each year approaches 200,000. Pockets Safeguarded Apart from that, there arc about 20,000 in tho mental hospitals, while other institutions provide accommodation for more than 20,000 persons. The total staff of the hospital and ambulance services is nearly 19,000. Nearly 900,000 pupils and students of all ages attend institutions maintained or aided by the L.C.C. In the elementary schools alone there are 576,000 children. Teachers and instructors number 30.000. The pockets of millions of London’s shoppers are safeguarded by the vigilance of tho Public Control Department. Inspectors are continually making surprise visits to shops and stalls to examine weighing machines and io test packages of food. About 110,06.) visits arc made each year. 1,500,000 appliances arc examined, and over 300.000 articles of food arc tested.
The council maintains 137 open spaces of about 6000 acres, providing facilities for various outdoor games. With a uniformed staff of 2000 men, sixty-four stations, and over 200 motor-fire appliances, the London Fire Brigade is the largest in the country. The council secs to the safety of the public at over 750 theatres and other places of entertainment. It registers or licenses about 9500 place where explosives, petroleum, etc., are kept, 1100 employment agencies, ami about 1500 massage or similar establishments. It enforces the observance of the Shops Act in about 90 000 shops, and tests the meters for gas and electricity. These do not by any means exhaust the public services which have their focal point at County Hall. A vast organisation is maintained, for in stance, by the Public Assistance branches of the administration. Every street and every house is included in the district of a relieving officer. Here, in brief, is a great machine which touches the life of tho community intimately at many points. In his business, his pleasure, and in many other ways, John Citizen is protected by the London County Council’s widespread services. Of the details of that work ho knows little, and it is, perhaps, the greatest tribute to the effi ciency and smoothness with which this vast machine operates that its existence is almost taken for granted.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 97, 27 April 1933, Page 3
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877GOVERNING LONDON Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 97, 27 April 1933, Page 3
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