0003230
G.F. 323
'
CONFIDENTIAL
from, say, the Social Welfare Advisory Committee or the Cotton Advisory Board. The Urban Council is thought of as the "local authority" while the other bodies are regarded as organs of the "central" government. The Working Party Report says (para. 21) "The administration of the conurbation is undertaken in part
by the Urban Council and otherwise directly by the various central
government departments". This description is ill-conceived and
highly misleading. It would be much nearer the mark to say that
the executive functions of government for the whole territory are
undertaken by departments assisted by a variety of councils and committees. Constitutionally the most developed of these is the
Urban Council but its function is to oversee a limited range of
executive functions to all intents and purposes for the whole
population.
8.
The belief that the development of local authorities is
desirable in itself and could take us a safe and limited distance
along the orthodox road to self-government has directed much effort and thought towards the development of the Urban Council. We have
not said : "In which fields of administration is it most desirable
to introduce a statutory council with elections and public meetings?"
We have said instead: "What additional powers can be given to the Urban Council and how can this Council be further developed?"
Given the economy and efficiency of the present functional distribution of executive powers one is likely to finish up by
attempting to involve the Urban Council in a hotch-potch of unimportant tasks already being performed by various departments in addition to its present work of controlling the services provided by the Urban Services Department and the management of Resettlement Estates. (See para. 65 of the recent Dickinson Report and para. 27 of the latest Urban Council report where they say what District Councils would do). The proposal, for instance, that the Urban
/Council