It was not found possible at this stage to plan a regional park system, but it was suggested that this should be eventually evolved. Recommendations were made as to railway and dock development, and for joint action in the matter of water supply and sewage disposal.

The Midlands.-A Midland Joint Town Planning Advisory Council has been formed, covering a region extending to a radius of from 15 to 20 miles from the centre of the City of Birmingham and embracing portions of three Counties.

As the Mansfield and District Committee is well established, a new Joint Committee has been formed with Nottingham as its centre, and as arrangements are being made for Joint Committees for North Derbyshire and for the Potteries Region, it is probable that this part of industrial England will soon be completely covered by regional committees.

South Wales. In South Wales, at the end of the year under review, Joint Committees had been formed for East Glamorgan, Mid-Glamorgan and for the Afan and Neath Valleys. A Committee for Monmouthshire had not been actually established by that date, but all the preliminary arrangements had been made.

Bath and Bristol.-At a conference of Local Authorities held at Bristol it was decided to recommend the formation of a Joint Committee for Bath and Bristol and the adjoining districts.

The Home Counties.-The Local Authorities of some of the districts near London do not show the same readiness to co-operate in the matter of town planning as do those in other parts of the country. No new committee has been formed among the Authorities within the Metropolitan Police District, but the North-East Surrey Committee has increased its membership by spreading into West Kent. In the case of both this Committee and the Thames Valley Committee, however, several Authorities whose districts would seem to be naturally part of the respective regions have hitherto declined to join, and the work of these Committees is to that extent hampered. Nevertheless, the Thames Valley Committee, which appointed the same expert as the adjoining Committee for West Middlesex, is taking steps to link up its regional scheme with that of the latter Committee.

In South Essex the group forming a Joint Committee is a small one, but the industrial developments in that region render their work exceptionally important, and, as this proceeds, other Authorities may realize the advantage of co-operating.

The East Kent Joint Town Planning Committee has been formed with the object of guiding the development that must inevitably follow the opening of the Kent coalfield and iron ore deposit. In addition to the Authorities in whose districts the coalfield is situated, neighbouring large seaside towns have joined the Committee, which has appointed an expert to carry out a preliminary survey and prepare a report.

Co-operation with Business and other Interests.-Stress has repeatedly been laid on the importance of consultation between Local Authorities and representatives of business and other interests in connection with the preparation of town planning schemes. This practice, it is satisfactory to observe, is being increasingly adopted by Regional Committees with good results. Thus, the meetings of the Mansfield and District Joint Committee are regularly attended by

representatives of the colliery companies and operatives, and land agents of the principal landowners; those of the East Kent Joint Committee by representatives of colliery companies and operatives, the railway company and other industries; while the Wirral Joint Committee is assisted by representatives of the principal landowners and of the voluntary Regional Survey Committee which was established by the University of Liverpool. On the Manchester District Joint Town Planning Advisory Committee are representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the local Society of Architects, the northern division of the Town Planning Institute, and the local branch of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. It is interesting to note also that this Committee have under consideration the railway communications in the region, particularly as affecting the various uses for which land. in the vicinity of such communications should be reserved, and that for this purpose the railway company placed exceptional facilities at the disposal of the Joint Committee.

MODEL CLAUSES AND LEGISLATION.

Model Clauses.-A supplement to the model clauses was issued during the course of the year.

The chief matter which the supplement contained was a series of clauses prepared for the purpose of enabling Local Authorities to deal with the lay-out and construction of streets in a town planning area wholly in the town planning scheme, instead of partly in the scheme and partly under byelaws. It was considered that this course would tend to avoid uncertainty and confusion.

The supplement also included provision for enabling the Responsible Authority under a scheme to require sites to be reserved for additional streets, where necessary. The object was to avoid the necessity for overloading the original scheme with streets which could be better left to be definitely settled later, and at the same time to provide the means of fixing them at the opportune time.

A number of minor amendments of the original clauses were also made.

Legislation. The Housing, &c. Act, 1923, which came into operation during the year under review, contains certain provisions relating to town planning. The Act extends the machinery of the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, to the settlement of claims for compensation and betterment made in pursuance of section 58 of the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act, 1909. Responsible Authorities under a town planning scheme are empowered by the Act to promote within a limited time a varying scheme for the purpose of withdrawing or modifying any provisions of the original scheme which may have occasioned heavy claims for compensation, without prejudice, however, to the right of the owner affected to make a further claim in respect of the scheme as varied.

The Act also enables the Minister to authorise the preparation of a town planning scheme for land, whether developed or not, with the object of preserving the existing character and features of a locality with special architectural, historic, or artistic interests.

British Empire Exhibition at Wembley.

Although only a limited amount of floor space could be allotted to the Department in the Government Pavilion, it was felt that the opportunity of emphasising the importance of subjects which affect public health at the Exhibition should not be lost. A carefully selected series of exhibits has therefore been prepared illustrating housing, town planning, prevention of disease, maternity and child welfare, water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal, public cleansing, smoke prevention, and care of the blind. A few films have also been prepared. A fuller explanation of the Department's exhibits will be found in Appendix IX (pages 153-4 below).

II. LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND LOCAL FINANCE. Official Head of Business of a Local Authority.

Some difficulties have been caused during the year by proposals to give the Town Clerk more extensive powers of control over other officers than are usually provided for expressly by the terms of appointment.

It is manifest that a Town Clerk or any other officer could not properly dictate to other persons in the employment of the Local Authority, the Medical Officer of Health or the Engineer, for instance, what they should do in the details of technical matters within their particular purview. Nor could any Local Authority impose on any one of their officers duties in conflict with those conferred on any other officers by statute or by central regulations.

The proposal to make some one officer definitely responsible for the general supervision of the whole of the business of the Local Authority, and their chief adviser on all matters of policy, is, however, a different question.

The work of Local Authorities has changed very considerably in recent years. The large Authorities, in particular, in addition to being the bodies regulating matters of local government in their area, are in fact important business corporations, carrying out costly services, trading and other.

There appears to be room for consideration whether, while maintaining to the full the traditions of local government service and, especially, of democratic control, the time has not come for some further development of the administrative arrangements of the Local Authorities, and for their having one chief official who, whatever his title, shall be in a position of definite responsibility for the general official organisation.

It may be premature to express any decided opinion on this possible development, but the question clearly merits attention. Two conditions would always have to be fulfilled-(1) the unquestioned control of the elected body; (2) no derogation from the responsibility of the present principal officers. The value of any such chief official as has been suggested would depend very largely on his exercising general control, on his not attempting to do the detailed work of officers expressly appointed because of their specialised qualifications, and on his working in full harmony with them.

Local Government and other Officers' Superannuation Act, 1922.

On the 28th May a further circular (Circular 403) was issued, dealing with combinations of Local Authorities for the purposes of the Local Government and other Officers' Superannuation Act, 1922, and the admission by Local Authorities of the officers and servants of other Local Authorities to the benefit of the Act.

Model forms of combination schemes and admission agreements were prepared by the Department and placed on sale through the Stationery Office (price 4d. and 3d. respectively).

From the passing of the Act to the 31st March, 1924, approval had been given to its adoption by 56 Local Authorities, viz., 19 County Councils, 11 County Borough Councils, 1 Metropolitan Borough Council, 6 Borough Councils, 15 Urban District Councils, 2 Rural District Councils, and 2 Joint Boards. The number of officers and servants brought under the Act exceeds 35,000, and the estimated annual cost to the Local Authorities amounts to approximately £453,000.

The Minister had also approved admission agreements under section 5 (3) of the Act in three cases, providing for the superannuation of 48 officers and servants.

Under section 8 (1), where an officer or servant of an Authority who have adopted the Act tranfers with their consent to another Authority who have adopted the Act, the first Authority are to pay to the second a transfer value ascertained in accordance with rules made by the Minister; and service rendered by the officer or servant to the first Authority is then to count as if it had been rendered to the second. Under subsection (2) of the same section, where an officer or servant transfers from an Authority who had not adopted the Act to one who have adopted it, he is to be entitled, subject to rules made by the Minister, on payment of a sum in lieu of transfer value, to reckon service rendered to the first-mentioned Authority. Rules as to transfer values and payments in lieu of transfer value under this section are in preparation, and will, it is hoped, soon be ready for issue.

Loans for Public Works.

LOANS SANCTIONED.

The Department sanctioned the borrowing by Local Authorities in England and Wales, during the financial year under review, of sums amounting to £23,410,773 for public works, exclusive of Poor Law and housing works and loans for providing temporarily for current

expenses.

Of this total, £9,224,132 was for works certified by the Department (under section 6 (1) of the Local Authorities (Financial Provisions) Act, 1921) to have been undertaken for the provision of employment for unemployed persons.

The following statement indicates the sums sanctioned during the year for various purposes; for convenience of comparison, the corresponding figures for the previous year are also given:

These loans were distributed among the different classes of Local Authorities as follows:

Review of Financial Position of Local Authorities.-Reference was made in last year's Report to the arrangements in connection with the sanctioning of loans for a review of the financial position of highlyrated districts and districts in which there has been a marked decline of assessable value. These arrangements have been continued during the year.