LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION 105 



ments in 1940, whereas the county tax, which is largely for welfare 

 purposes, constituted 15.8 percent of town and city payments. 



Old age assistance, aid to dependent children, and aid to the blind 

 are administered by the state department of public welfare. To these 

 three types of relief the federal government contributes approximate- 

 ly one-half of the expenditures. The state's share is 25 percent of aid 

 to the aged, 50 percent of aid to the needy blind, and 50 percent of aid 

 to dependent children. Towns, cities, and counties are required to 

 pay 25 percent of the expenditures for old age assistance. 



Child welfare service is under the general supervision of the 

 state but is directly administered by local units of government. There 

 is no separate juvenile court in New Hampshire, but the municipal 

 courts in each county have been given original jurisdiction over 

 juvenile cases. 



Public health services are under the general supervision of the 

 state board of public health. Local activities are administered by a 

 health officer who is an appointee of the state board, and who with 

 the board of selectmen constitutes the local board of health. It is 

 the responsibility of the local health officer to enforce the public 

 health laws and regulations of the state. School hygiene is largely 

 a responsibility of the state department of education. Although this 

 high degree of centralization in the state is apparent, local adminis- 

 tration and cooperation are of major significance for the operating ef- 

 fectiveness of centralized rules and regulations. Essentially, the New 

 Hampshire town is not a public health unit, but rather it is a cooper- 

 ating agency of the state. 



Law enforcement is decentralized between the state and its sub- 

 divisions, including counties, cities, and towns. For the most part, 

 local officials obtain their status by popular election. The limited jur- 

 isdiction of local police and their inability to cope with the rapid mo- 

 bility of criminals resulted in the creation of state police in 1937, a 

 new phase in state-local relationships concerned with protective 

 services. 



The New Hampshire court system for the administration of jus- 

 tice, in accordance with the constitution and public laws, and common 

 among the states, is so established that it operates progressively from 

 a court of lowest jurisdiction to one of highest or final jurisdiction. 

 There are three levels of original (in some instances concurrent) jur- 

 isdiction, namely, local, county, and state, each of which prosecutes 

 within its own defined limits depending on the magnitude of the of- 

 fense. The local level includes the trial justice of lowest jurisdiction, 

 and includes municipal courts in towns and cities of over 2.000 per- 

 sons. The county, or superior court, in addition to original jurisdic- 

 tion within specified limits, also has jurisdiction over appeals in crim- 

 inal cases from local courts of a lower order. The state supreme 

 court is of highest or final jurisdiction and has general supervision 

 over all inferior courts. 



Let it be understood that state-local relationships are not limited 

 to the basic public services which have been reviewed in this section. 

 and that the scope and purpose of centralization is not a mere matter 



