94 RATES AND TAXES 



must be a strict and rigid audit of the 

 accounts. 



The principle of the method of Parlia- 

 mentary relief has now been admitted to 

 such an extent that it would be absurd 

 to say generally that local authorities 

 cannot be trusted with public funds not 

 raised out of the rates. They are already 

 so trusted and the extension of the trust 

 is not a matter of principle, but of 

 efficiency of administration. For the 

 present, I am dealing only with the 

 duties imposed on local authorities that 

 may fairly be described as of a national 

 character. Disputes, of course, will arise 

 as to what is and is not to be included 

 under this heading (e.g., what roads?), but 

 there can be no dispute as to the reality 

 of the distinction between onerous charges 

 for national purposes and beneficial charges 

 for purely local purposes. 



