87 



upon a local board not entitle him to sit npon a board of guard- 

 ians ? The chaos which at present existed in these matters had 

 arisen through legislation for local affairs having proceeded by 

 piecemeal, creating special districts and authorities for special 

 purposes, instead of establishing units for general purposes of 

 local government, with one consolidated authority in each unit. 

 The result miglit be illustrated as follows : An inhabitant of 

 Burnley lived in a four-fold area for purposes of local govern- 

 ment, namely, in the borough, in a parish, in a union, and in 

 a county. None of these were conterminous with any of the 

 others. He was governed by a five-fold authority — the Council, 

 the Vestry, the School Board, the Guardians, and the County 

 Quarter Sessions. He was subject to a borough rate, a poor rate, 

 and a county rate. Again, whether in the borough, the local 

 board district, or in the rural parish, the inhabitant was or 

 might be subject to a number of separate debts charged on the 

 different areas which happened to include his house. It was 

 said, and it seemed to be beyond question, that by reason of the 

 defects which had been described the machinery of local govern- 

 ment worked with waste and difficulty, and without its projDer 

 effect ; that some of the most capable men were deterred from 

 taking their proper part in it ; that by reason of the unfairness 

 of taxation private interests were unnecessarily aroused against 

 public improvements, and that local indebtedness was so broken 

 up and was incurred under so divided a responsibility that its 

 growth, which could only be checked locally, was not known 

 locally and could not be effectively resisted even if it were known. 

 The statement of those defects in itself implied a statement of 

 the direction in which amendment should proceed. So far as 

 might be, local affairs ought to be administered in simple areas 

 or aggregations of simple areas, without crossing or interlacing. 

 The unit of area should be the same for all local purposes and 

 larger areas should be as far as possible aggregations of tliat 

 unit. So far as might be, the local affairs of each area or 

 aggregate of areas ought to be administered by one body for 

 that area or aggregate. So far as might be, the rates should be 

 unified in each area and the debt of each area should be ascer- 

 tained and consolidated. And the areas ought to be made of a 

 convenient size and the incidence of expenses ought to be made 

 as equitable as possible. In devising a plan for securing these 

 advantages certain limiting conditions had to be taken into 

 account. Fii'stly, the least possible disturbance of existing 

 arrangements and the greatest degree of utilization of existing 

 institutions, which were compatible with securing the main 

 objects, were not only desirable but necessaiy. Secondly, in 

 determining what kind of area ought to be chosen as the unit 

 for local government, it must be borne in mind that the class or 



